Major Healthcare Company Offers Workers Money in Exchange for Sleep

Are you sleep deprived? Do you feel like the lack of sleep negatively affects your work performance? If so, maybe you should consider working for Aetna, Inc.

But why?

Aetna, Inc., a managed healthcare provider and Fortune 100 company based in Hartford, Connecticut pays their 50,000 employees more money if they get more sleep. It works like this: Aetna workers must use a fitness tracker device to show proof they are sleeping at least seven hours every night for 20 consecutive nights. Those that do will receive $25 every night until they reach the $500 mark every year.

Why seven hours of sleep?

According to the National Institutes of Health, adults typically require between seven and eight hours of sleep each night in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, results from the most recent National Health Interview Survey revealed that approximately a third of all adults sleep less than six hours nightly.

Even more alarming, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that between 50 and 70 million American adults suffer from sleep-related disorders. Negative effects associated with sleep difficulties include:

Bad driving

Industrial mishaps

Medical blunders

Low productivity

Diminished quality of life

Developing chronic diseases

Even if your boss isn’t willing to pay you for sleeping, the CDC suggests ditching alcohol, caffeine, and eating meals before bedtime to develop a better sleep regimen. Eliminating technology before bedtime and implementing a consistent sleep schedule won’t hurt either, according to the CDC.